Chasing the Dream + An Update on my Progress

What did you want to be when you grew up? An astronaut? Fireman? Doctor? I, and many others of course, wanted to be the next famous best selling author, which obviously still hasn’t happened yet.

Where are you at in the long and arduous journey of following through with your dreams? For myself, I’m not where I would like to be. It doesn’t help that I tend to have dry spells of not writing anything at all.

So far I’ve published a poetry book, A Journey: Still in Progress, but that’s as far as I’ve gotten at the moment. A Journey is about dealing with depression throughout the various phases of life. It is grouped into three sections: Childhood, Marriage, and Motherhood. You can purchase your copy here.

I’m currently working on a couple of fiction novels. Both have single parents falling in love, one after being widowed while the other had been alone since the pregnancy. The first and lengthiest one at 16k words is Kara, followed by The Sweet Room at just 8.5k words. I hope to have these two and one other, The Christmas Bride published by the end of the year.

Guess what came in the mail today!

There is no single word to describe how it feels to hold your first book in your hands.

And so it begins…

As of this afternoon, I am an officially published author. Currently, I’m not entirely sure how to feel about this new development. I mean, I’m happy because I’ve wanted to write and get published since I was a child but I’m also terrified at the same time.

I had been pushing off the release date for a while now because the thought of finishing my book caused me anxiety. Butterflies had been (and they’re still at it as I write this post) assaulting my innards for the last several hours but I knew I had to do it. So, I ripped off the band aid and submitted the book. It is now available on Amazon in eBook format and paperback (feel free to head over and purchase a copy of my book if you’re interested).

A Journey (Still in Progress) is a poetry book that details my experiences of surviving life with severe depression that had-until recently-been completely untreated (and it was—and is a very bad idea to let it go as far as I had). I didn’t write for over two years when it’s something that I love and feel passion for.

I’m going to just take a quick moment to say that if you are dealing with a mental illness, please keep it in check. It doesn’t make you crazy just because you can’t feel happy all of the time or because your brain doesn’t produce chemicals you need. It had affected every single aspect of my life and I almost lost that uphill battle. Please take care of yourselves because you do matter. I just wanted to mention that in the event that anyone needed to be reminded.

And we made it!

So, I’ve finally hit the 60 poem mark I was aiming for! Now it’s just a matter of time before I publish. All I’m needing now is some beta readers.

A Journey (Still in progress) is a collection of poetry and prose about the experiences of life. Growing up under the weight of abuse and toxic relationships and how that can affect someone soul deep. It also contains the navigation of marriage and motherhood.
The book is divided into three parts, each a reflection of different aspects of life.

 

Almost there!

So, because of Tes, I’ve gotten almost a whole book of poetry written. At this point in time, I can’t decide if I want to publish under my name or a pseudonym. Hopefully I’ll be able to make that decision soon. If anyone else has any thoughts to add, feel free. I’d like as many opinions as possible before I make the decision.